The disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Nos. 2001-29945 filed on Feb. 6, 2001 and 2001-01731 filed on Jul. 10, 2000, each including the specification, drawings and abstract, are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an internal combustion engine provided with a heat accumulating device having a function of temporarily accumulating a heat, whereby the heat stored in the heat accumulating device is supplied via a heat transfer medium such as a cooling water or the like so as to perform a warming up, and more particularly to a realization of a control configuration preferably applied to control an operation of the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, for an internal combustion engine mounted on a vehicle such as a motor vehicle, when the engine is driven in a state that a temperature in the periphery of a combustion chamber does not reach a predetermined temperature (a cooling state), there is generated a problem such that the fuel supplied to the combustion chamber is not sufficiently atomized or the like, thereby deteriorating an exhaust characteristics (emission) and a fuel economy performance. Accordingly, such an engine operation is not preferable.
However, in actual, with the exception of a restarting time after the engine temporarily stops, it is unavoidable to drive the engine in a cold state during a period between the engine start time and the warming-up completing time, at almost every time of starting the engine operation.
In response to the problem mentioned above, there has been known a heat accumulating device having a function of storing a heat generated during the operation of the internal combustion engine in a predetermined heat accumulating device and discharging the heat to the engine under the cold state.
For example, a heat accumulating device of an internal combustion engine described in Japanese Patent Application No. HEI6-185359 is structured such as to store a part of a cooling water heated due to a heat radiation of the engine in a heat insulation state even after the engine stops and release the heated cooling water to a cooling system (a cooling passage of the engine) at a next engine start, thereby quickly warming the engine.
In this case, in order to shorten a required time for the warming up which the internal combustion engine performs by its own ability, in view of increasing a chance to utilize the warming-up effect given by the heat accumulating device, it is most preferable to start the warming-up process of the internal combustion engine performed by using the heat accumulating device mentioned above before the engine is started, and complete the warming-up process at a time when the engine is started. If an executing timing of the warming-up process is too early, the once increased temperature of the engine is again cooled before the engine is started, or if the executing timing is too late, the engine is driven in a state that the warming up is not completed and the heat stored in the heat accumulating device is not sufficiently made good use.
However, as a matter of fact, it is hard to accurately forecast the timing for starting the engine which is performed on the basis of intention of a driver, by a control device of the engine or the like. Further, in the case of leaving the executing timing of the warming-up process up to the driver, not only an operation of the driver becomes complex at a time when the engine starts, but also it becomes hard to know a period at which the heat stored in the heat accumulating device is made best use and accurately select such a period so as to perform the warming up.
The invention relates to a warming up of an internal combustion engine utilizing a heat stored in a heat accumulating device, and one object of the invention is to provide an internal combustion engine with a heat accumulating device which can preferably increase a chance to utilize a warming-up function given by the heat accumulating device, by setting an optimum executing timing and notifying a driver of information concerning an executing process by way of a proper form.
According to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an internal combustion engine comprising:
a heat accumulating device that stores a heat;
a period determining device that determines an executing period of a warming-up process performed before the internal combustion engine is started, by supplying the heat stored in the heat accumulating device to the internal combustion engine through a predetermined heat transfer medium; and
a warming-up process communicating device that communicates that the warming-up process is executed during the period that the warming-up process is executed.
According to the aspect mentioned above, since the incidence that the warming-up operation is executed can be known during a period between the start of the warming-up process and the completion thereof, for example, by the driver of the internal combustion engine, no sense of discomfort is generated in the driver, and the chance to utilize the warming-up process prior to the start of the internal combustion engine can be sufficiently